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Gaza Ministry of Interior to begin hiring female security officers

April 13, 2017 6:52 P.M. (Updated: April 17, 2017 7:07 P.M.)

GAZA (Ma’an) -- The Ministry of Interior in Gaza released a statement on Thursday, saying that it had begun accepting applications from female Palestinians for positions inside Gaza’s security forces, for the first time since the establishment of the Palestinian Unity Government in June 2014.

The ministry imposed a number of conditions onto female applicants, stipulating that applicants must be under the age of 30, must not have any academic certificates past high school, and must not have any family members working for public or government sectors or for UNRWA.

It remained unclear what the minimum age for the application was.

Additionally, if accepted, the women would remain under a “probation” period for six months, during which time they would have to prove “good behavior” in order to remain enlisted in the security forces.

The ministry noted in its statement that since the beginning of 2017, the ministry had hired 500 male security officers in different departments and areas across the Gaza Strip.